1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a terpolymer containing a major proportion of butadiene together with minor amounts of styrene and vinyl benzyl chloride. More specifically it relates to such terpolymers having excellent green strength and being suitable for incorporation in compositions used in tire manufacture and in related products.
2. Related Prior Art
Vinyl benzyl chloride copolymers with styrene have been used in various applications including coating compositions, ion-exchange resins, thickening agents, etc. In most applications vinyl comonomers such as styrene have been the major components.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,588 is directed primarily to the preparation of latices of polymers and copolymers containing at least 5 percent of vinyl benzyl halide in the polymer molecules with the comonomers comprising monoalkenyl monomers, such as styrene, and in some cases up to 1 percent of a crosslinking agent containing two vinyl groups such as divinylbenzene. This patent discloses in a table in Col. 3 three terpolymers of styrene, butadiene and vinyl benzyl chloride. However, in none of these terpolymers is butadiene used as a major component. Moreover the product in each case is a latex of finely divided particles having a size of 1,000 Angstroms or less.